Sound the alarm! Flatlands volunteer-ambulance crew looking for more helpers

Do-gooders who serve on an area ambulance team are looking for locals to join their ranks and help save their neighbors’ lives. Leaders of the Flatlands Volunteer Ambulance Corps are putting out a call for more emergency-medical technicians and dispatchers, roles that offer a glimpse at what a group spokesman called the exciting and challenging world of first responders.

“We’re especially looking for young people who want to get into a career of emergency services, and it’s a great stepping stone for that,” said Joe Auerbach. “It’s definitely an interesting career with a lot of challenges.”

The corps is looking for certified emergency-medical technicians and paramedics, as well as anyone over the age of 18 without previous training or experience willing to work as a dispatcher at their headquarters at the corner of Avenue N and Schenectady Avenue, according to Auerbach, a 34-year veteran of the crew.

The more than four-decade-old organization will also host emergency-medical technician classes in January for any locals looking to gain a life-saving skill set, he said.

The ambulances roam Flatlands as well as Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, Marine Park, and areas surrounding Floyd Bennett Field, a region Auerbach said is generally bounded by Jamaica Bay, Ralph Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and the cross-borough, freight-train train tracks between those two avenues.

The volunteers currently work mostly evening shifts from Sunday to Friday, and bringing just a handful more into the fold will go a long way to ensuring the crew is staffed at all times, according to the spokesman.

“If we get two or three people that will stay with the organization and commit to two or three shifts a month, that would be a lot,” he said.

The posts are not paid, but they offer several perks in addition to the priceless benefit of helping to save a life, Auerbach said.

“You get a lot of satisfaction, it’s a way to give back to the community, and you can pick up management skills along the way,” he said.

Anyone eager to join the Flatlands Volunteer Ambulance Corps can find out more information on its website at www.fvac.org or by calling (718) 338–0434.

Thank you to author Kevin Duggan for featuring our ambulance corps, and highlighting our need for more volunteers.